World 'losing patience with Somalia's dithering'

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday that the international community was losing patience with the political wrangles within Somalia’s transitional government.

The Somali government has been rocked by repeated leadership rows that, ever since it was formed in 2004, have undermined its mandate to write a new constitution and reconcile the war-torn country.

“The security council and donors are losing patience with the political tensions within the Somalia leadership,” Ban said in Addis Ababa during a special African Union (AU) summit on the continent’s conflicts.

Ban however hailed the recent offensive by the AU troops and Somali government forces against the al-Qaeda-inspired Shebab insurgents in the capital Mogadishu.

“Now that there has been progress on the security track, the transitional federal institutions [TFIs] must deliver on the political and development tracks,” he said.

“The TFIs must show real progress on key tasks such as constitution-making, political outreach, reconciliation, the provision of basic services and improvement in security,” he added.

The mandate of the Somali government expires in August but lawmakers have unilaterally extended their term.

The government has been unable to exert authority across Somalia, which has been without a central administration since a bloody civil war erupted in 1991.—AFP